Local spread of Tn1546-like element among three species of vancomycin resistant enterococci in an intensive care unit

Tn1546-like structure in enterococci

Authors

  • Milica Jovanovic Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Tanja Tosic Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Snezana Jovanovic Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Goran Stevanovic Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Mitra Drakulovic National Public Health Institute "Milan Jovanovic Batut", Belgrade, Serbia
  • Rajica Stosovic Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Marcus Zervos Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan, United States

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.7959

Keywords:

vancomycin resistant enterococci, PFGE, Tn1546

Abstract

Introduction: In an intensive care unit (ICU) of the Emergency Center in the Clinical Center of Serbia, four species of vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) were isolated in a 17-month period mostly from blood cultures, including E. faecalis, E. faecium, E. raffinosus and E.gallinarum.

Methodology: The relationship between isolates from each species was investigated by PFGE, and PCR experiments for detection of pathogenicity factor genes and van genes to determine the nature of each clone. A PCR-based method, using 10 primer pairs (p1/2-p19/20), was used to investigate the presence of the Tn1546-like structure.

Results: PFGE indicated the presence of two different E. faecium clones, while the three other enterococcal species belonged to one clone each. Transposon typing revealed that isolates of E. raffinosus (4), E. gallinarum (4) and E. faecalis (3) yielded gene sequences identical to 10 primer pairs (p1/2-p19/20), suggesting the possibility of identical transposon-like structure in these species.

Conclusions: The results of the study indicate probable horizontal spread of Tn1546-like structure in three species of VRE obtained from the same ICU.

Author Biographies

Milica Jovanovic, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia

Department of Microbiology, microbiologist

Tanja Tosic, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia

Department of Microbiology, microbiologist

Snezana Jovanovic, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia

Departent of Microbiology, microbiologist

Goran Stevanovic, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia

Clinic for Infectious and Tropical Diseases

School of Medicine,University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

specialist in infectious diseases

Mitra Drakulovic, National Public Health Institute "Milan Jovanovic Batut", Belgrade, Serbia

Department of Epidemiology. epidemiologist

Rajica Stosovic, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia

Clinic for Allergology and Immunology, cpecialist in internal medicine

Marcus Zervos, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan, United States

Infectioius Diseases

specialist in infectious diseases

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Published

2017-09-30

How to Cite

1.
Jovanovic M, Tosic T, Jovanovic S, Stevanovic G, Drakulovic M, Stosovic R, Zervos M (2017) Local spread of Tn1546-like element among three species of vancomycin resistant enterococci in an intensive care unit: Tn1546-like structure in enterococci. J Infect Dev Ctries 11:684–690. doi: 10.3855/jidc.7959

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Section

Original Articles